From a review of The History of Tom Fool (1760), The Monthly Review, XXIII, August 1760

When the famous Turk first appeared in the Hay-market, and not a man in England thought of walking on a slack wire, and ballancing straws, but himself, great were the qualifications both natural and acquired, that were judged necessary to constitute an Equilibrist.1 Time and experience, however, have rendered this wonderful art familiar to the common Tumblers at Sadler’s Wells.